CIC: Cauliflower & Cheese

Hey I made it! Talk about procrastination. I made my Crazy Ingredient Challenge dish yesterday during the little man’s naptime. I had to do this during naptime because it required the food processor and my little man absolutely hates it when we run the Ninja. I’m talking completely loses it with big ole alligator tears. We try taking him over to the machine and even let him help push the buttons, trying to prove that we are in control of the loud noise, but it’s not working. So, I prefer to wait to use it if I’m the only one home.

The ingredients that won the vote this month are Cauliflower and Cheese – any kind of cheese! I thought first of doing mashed cauliflower and potatoes with cream cheese. But we had mashed potatoes earlier this week. I really wanted to try a cauliflower crust pizza, but knew I wouldn’t have the time to get that done. (It’s still on my bucket list though.)

I have been keeping a bean dip in the fridge for my afternoon snacks, either hummus or black bean, and thought that’d be a great way to “sneak” cauliflower into the menu. The cheese I decided to use was Parmesan. This dip ended up reminding me of pizza (I now see how cauliflower works in place of crust) so I added some oregano to the mix, if I had sun-dried tomatoes that would’ve gone in too! Veggies are a perfect healthy dipper but pita chips or even whole grain tortilla chips work nicely too.

Cauliflower Bean Dip

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided use

1 can (15oz) great north beans (or any white bean), drained and rinsed

1/4 C shredded Parmesan cheese

zest 1 Meyer lemon

juice 1 Meyer lemon

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp dried oregano

Steps:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Break cauliflower into florets, about 1″ in size. Place on a baking sheet and toss with 2 tbsp olive oil. Bake 25 minutes, until lightly golden.

In a large food process, pulse beans, roasted cauliflower, cheese, zest and juice of the lemon, garlic, oregano, S+P, and up to 1/4 C water. Pulse until smooth. Season to taste with additional S+P if needed.